Okay, a few things I notice about your listing. First if all, it looks very nice and your photo gallery is good, but you have several redundant photos of the same bedroom, so remove some. And the photo of the couch made up into a bed has got to go- the sheets are all messed up, it looks like someone just got out of bed. Some of the bedroom photos also have wrinkled up looking bedding- smooth it out before taking photos.
I would remove the sleeper couch from your sleeping spaces and take the guest count down to 6. Your dining table looks like it only seats 4.
Your description could use some work. For one thing, it doesn’t sound like a place you have much attachment to- try to make it a bit more personal. Use “we” statements, like “We have tried to furnish with guests’ comfort in mind”, or “We had a good time renovating this apt. with new mattresses, furniture…” blah blah blah.
You haven’t used the “The Space” section correctly. That section is where you are meant to describe all the rooms, the house layout, the shared yard.
Your pet wording needs beefing up. Nowhere do you say you only accept dogs 15 lbs or less. (BTW, I don’t know why that matters to you- large dogs tend to be better behaved, are often accustomed to not being allowed on the furniture, aren’t yappy, etc).
You need some wording like, “If you are travelling with pets, make sure to add them at the time of booking and message me about the kind of pets you have, so I can leave appropriate pet gear. The pet fee is $99, to cover the extensive extra cleaning time it takes to remove pet hair and odors, etc. Failing to mention your pet when booking may result in being denied access to the home with no refund.”
You have far too many admonishments and warnings about extra charges, as if you expect guests to misbehave. $1/minute for overstay? That just sounds ridiculously petty and money-grubbing. All that “Don’t” and “No” stuff comes across as really unwelcoming.
It’s fine to use “No parties”, but otherwise try to state things positively rather than negatively.
Instead of “Makeup stains:
Please use wipes or washcloths than stain makeup on linens. Linen charge $25 per replacement applies.”- this doesn’t need to be mentioned in the listing. Where it should be is in a note on the bathroom wall (framed attractively).
“Guests- please use the make-up wipes or black washcloths provided to remove make-up. Linens or towels with make-up stains may incur a replacement charge. Thank you for your attention.”
Now about that 2* review and your response. I would strongly advise you to ask Airbnb to remove your response. It does you far more harm than good. For starters, it’s painfully long, and makes you seem like a crazy ranter. No future guests are going to read through anything that long, and guests couldn’t care less about the details of your drama with a past guest.
You have some lovely reviews and those bad ones are obvious outliers. They say more about the guest than they do about you or your place- the guests come across as nutso. Let them- guests aren’t stupid- they don’t believe every review they read. You already have a new good review above the recent bad one.
About the cat urine smell- that seems to be a reasonable complaint (although not as far as inside your unit, but outside). You say the neighbor does feed the stray cats, and there is cat urine smell, at least outside.
You need to mention negatives as well as positives in your listing info. Every listing has warts, be it noise, heavy traffic area, remote with no shops anywhere nearby, etc.
Example: “Please note: the yard is shared with all the apartment residents. One of my neighbors leaves food out for the stray cats. She is elderly and this brings her pleasure, but it does mean that sometimes there is a cat urine odor outside in or near the yard. I have no control over this, so if it’s a deal-breaker for you, please do not book here. No refunds will be given for complaints concerning this.”
